The summons to repent before the killing

Cette partie fait partie de la section complète : Toutes les sections de cette partie.

In the classical doctrine of the four schools, the apostate loses the protection attached to his Islam and falls under a specific penal status. The schools differ markedly on its modalities: the summons to repent before any execution, the delay granted, the case of the woman, that of the sorcerer, or of the one who kills by magic. Each position is reported here to its school, with its proofs and references.

This page restitutes the classical texts as they stand; the divergences are numerous on this subject and none is settled for the reader.

The summons to repent before the killing

The jurists disagreed about the apostate: must he be invited to repent before the killing, or is he killed by the apostasy alone? The people of knowledge hold two famous views:

The first view: he is killed by the apostasy alone; the summons is not obligatory but recommended; if he repents, his repentance benefits him before Allah without averting the killing. This is the Hanafi school on their sound view, the statement of Abd al-Malik ibn al-Majishun among the Malikis, the view of the literalists, one view of al-Shafi'i and one report of Ahmad.

The Hanafis write: Islam is presented to him as a recommendation, in hope of his return, without obligation, for the call has already reached him; yet it is preferable, for most likely he apostatized only because a doubt came upon him or a grief struck him: this is removed so that he returns to Islam, which is gentler than killing; if he has a doubt it is lifted. The proof that the summons is not obligatory is the hadith of Abu Musa: I came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) with two men of the Ash'arites, one on my right and one on my left; both asked for a position; he said: O Abu Musa, or Abdullah ibn Qays; I said: by Him who sent you with the truth, I knew nothing of their inner thought nor that they were seeking employment; he entrusted me with the Yemen, then Mu'adh ibn Jabal followed him; a bound man was at his door; he asked: who is this? It was said: he was a Jew, entered Islam then returned to his former religion and became a Jew again; he said: I will not sit until he is killed by the decree of Allah and His messenger; it was said: sit; three times he said: I will not sit until he is killed by the decree of Allah and His messenger; he ordered his execution and he was killed (narrated by al-Bukhari (6525) and Muslim (1733)). The apparent sense of his words "until he is killed by the decree of Allah and His messenger", the answer of Abu Musa, then the order to kill him, show that repentance was not offered: so judged the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). He is nevertheless imprisoned three days if he asks a delay: if he repents and enters Islam within it, it is accepted, otherwise he is killed; if he does not ask a delay he is killed at once, according to the Prophet's word (peace be upon him):

Whoever changes his religion, kill him.

narrated by al-Bukhari (3017)

And according to the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him):

The blood of a Muslim man who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that I am the messenger of Allah is not lawful except in one of three cases: the married adulterer, a life for a life, and the one who forsakes his religion and parts from the community.

narrated by al-Bukhari (6878) and Muslim (4468)

The call has reached him: he is therefore killed at once without delay, like the original unbeliever, and what is due at once may not be postponed for an imagined future event. If a killer kills him before Islam is presented to him, that is disapproved of the killer, with nothing against the killer, for the killing was deserved by his disbelief, and disbelief renders the blood lawful; presentation after the spread of the call is no longer an obligation, though the one who performs it is disliked, for abandoning the preferred aim and for acting ahead of the imam (Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-Ulama 3/501, al-Ikhtiyar 4/178-179, al-Jawhara an-Nayyira 6/328-329, Mukhtasar al-Waqi'a 2/364, al-Lubab 2/559-560).

The second view: the summons is obligatory; if he repents he is spared, otherwise he is killed. This is the view of the majority of scholars: the Hanafis on one view, the Malikis, the Shafi'is within the school and the Hanbalis within the school; reported from Omar, Uthman and Ali (may Allah be pleased with them); the view of Ata, an-Nakha'i, ath-Thawri, al-Awza'i, Ishaq and others. The proof:

We never punish until We have sent a messenger.

Surah al-Isra 15

With what the hadith implies, and the fact that killing becomes due only at a point: if he repents and returns to Islam the ruling of killing falls, as with the original unbeliever; and the word of Allah:

Say to those who disbelieve that if they desist, what is past will be forgiven them.

Surah al-Anfal 38

A verse applying to every unbeliever whether or not he had a prior faith; and His word about the hypocrites "except those who repent, amend, hold fast to Allah and purify their religion for Allah: those will be with the believers" (Surah an-Nisa 146-147), and the hypocrites are among those who believed then disbelieved. Ibn Qudama says: he is not killed until he is summoned three times: this is the view of most of the people of knowledge, among them Omar, Ali, Ata, an-Nakha'i, Malik, ath-Thawri, al-Awza'i, Ishaq and the partisans of opinion; it is one of al-Shafi'i's two views. Another report from Ahmad indicates that the summons is not obligatory but recommended: this is al-Shafi'i's second view, the view of Ubayd ibn Umayr and Tawus, also reported from al-Hasan (al-Mughni 9/17, an-Nawawi's Sharh Sahih Muslim 12/208).

Imam Ibn Battal says: the scholars disagreed about the apostate's summons: Omar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman, Ali and Ibn Mas'ud are reported to hold that he is summoned; if he repents he is spared, otherwise he is killed: the view of most scholars. A group holds that he is not summoned and must be killed as soon as he apostatizes: reported from al-Hasan al-Basri and Tawus, mentioned by at-Tahawi from Abu Yusuf, and the view of the literalists; they argue from the Prophet's word (peace be upon him) "whoever changes his religion, kill him", without mention of a summons; likewise the cases of Mu'adh and Abu Musa who killed the apostate without a summons. At-Tahawi says: these people liken the apostate's ruling to that of the enemy combatants to whom the call has come: war is made upon them without summons; the summons is obligatory only for the one who left Islam without full knowledge of it; whoever left it with full knowledge is killed without summons. Abu Yusuf says: if he comes to repentance at once I set him free and entrust his affair to Allah. Ibn al-Qassar says: the proof of the summons is consensus, for Omar ibn al-Khattab said of the apostate: "would you not have imprisoned him three days and fed him a loaf each day; perhaps he would repent and Allah would accept his repentance; O Allah, I was not present, I did not command, and I did not approve when it reached me"; the Companions did not disagree about summoning the apostate: as though they understood from the Prophet's word (peace be upon him) "whoever changes his religion, kill him" that it applies if he does not repent; the proof is the word of Allah "if they repent, establish prayer and give zakat, set them free" (Surah at-Tawba 5), a verse covering every unbeliever. As for the cases of Mu'adh and Abu Musa, they are no argument against the summons, for Abu Musa himself had summoned him: Abu Bakr Ibn Abi Shayba reported from Qatada, from Humayd ibn Hilal: Mu'adh came to Abu Musa, at whose door was a Jew who had become Muslim then apostatized, and whom Abu Musa had summoned for two months; Mu'adh said: I will not sit until I strike his neck (Ibn Battal's Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari 8/571-573).

Imam al-Mawardi says: the apostate is summoned to repent before being killed; if he repents his blood is safeguarded. Al-Hasan al-Basri says: he is killed without summons. Ata says: the one born in Islam is killed without summons; the one born in unbelief who entered Islam is killed only after the summons, arguing from the Prophet's word (peace be upon him) "whoever changes his religion, kill him", where he commands only killing without summons; and because the killing for apostasy is a legal punishment like stoning the fornicator: as the fornicator's summons is not obligatory, the apostate's is not. Our proof: what Urwa narrates from 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her): a woman apostatized on the day of Uhud and the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered that she be summoned: if she repents she is spared, otherwise she is killed; that is a text. It is also reported that a man came to Omar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) from Abu Musa al-Ash'ari; Omar asked him: do you have among you any startling news? he said: yes, a man who disbelieved after his Islam and we killed him; Omar said: would you not have imprisoned him three days and fed him a loaf each day while summoning him; perhaps he would repent; O Allah, I was not present, I did not command and I did not approve when it reached me; O Allah, I dissociate myself before You from his blood. It is reported that Ibn Mas'ud wrote to Uthman (may Allah be pleased with them) about a people who apostatized; Uthman wrote back: call them to the religion of truth and to the testimony that there is no god but Allah; if they answer, set their path free; if they refuse, kill them; some answered and he set their path free, some refused and he killed them. Apostasy most often arises from the interposition of a doubt: one must not therefore advance to killing before removing it and summoning to repentance, like the people of war whom it is not permitted to kill before the spread of the call and the manifestation of the sign; as for the fornicator, repentance does not remove his punishment, whereas it removes apostasy: hence the summons in apostasy and not in fornication.

The summons being established before the killing, two views exist on its regime: that of Abu Hanifa and the choice of Abu Ali Ibn Abi Hurayra: it is recommended, not obligatory, for making it obligatory would forbid his blood before it, whereas his blood is not safeguarded if he is killed before; that therefore indicates the recommended character. The second view, the sounder: the summons is obligatory, according to the hadith and the traditions already cited; the apostate's summons stands in the position of spreading the call to the people of war, which is obligatory; the purpose of killing the apostate is his departure from apostasy, and the summons leads to that departure more closely than killing: it must therefore be more obligatory than it. On the delay: must the killing be hastened at the refusal to repent, or deferred three days? Two views: al-Muzani's: the killing is hastened and not deferred, as Abu Hanifa held, unless he asks for respite, in which case three days are granted, according to the Prophet's word (peace be upon him) "whoever changes his religion, kill him"; it is a legal punishment that is not deferred like other punishments. The second view: he is deferred three days; the view of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh; Sufyan ath-Thawri said: as long as his repentance is hoped for; the proof of the three-day delay is Omar's word (may Allah be pleased with him) when told of the apostate's killing: "would you not have imprisoned him three days; O Allah, I was not present, I did not command"; Allah decreed a people's punishment then granted them three days: "enjoy yourselves three days in your dwellings: that is a promise not to be belied" (Surah Hud 65); the purpose is his reflection upon the religion and return to the truth, which requires deliberation and thought: the delay assessed by the Law between the least of the many and the most of the few is granted, namely three days. On this delay, two views, depending on whether the summons is recommended or obligatory (al-Hawi al-Kabir 13/158-160, al-Bayan 12/42-48).

The manner of summoning and the return to Islam

The apostate's summons and his Islam are accomplished only by his return to that by which he apostatized. The rule: the door by which he left is the door by which he returns, no other, while having him repeat the testimony of faith (Tabari's Tafsir 6/282).

Ibn Taymiyya says: every group that abandons an outward, mutawatir law of Islam must be fought, by the agreement of the imams of the Muslims, even while pronouncing the testimony of faith; if they confess it but withhold the five prayers, they are fought until they pray; if they withhold zakat, they are fought until they pay it; likewise if they withhold the fast of Ramadan or the pilgrimage of the House; likewise if they withhold the forbidding of indecencies, fornication, gambling, wine and the other forbidden things of the Law; likewise if they refuse to judge bloods, properties, honors and the like by the Book and the Sunna; likewise if they withhold enjoining good, forbidding wrong and fighting the unbelievers until they enter Islam and pay the jizya out of hand while subdued; likewise if they manifest innovations contrary to the Book, the Sunna and the conduct of the community's predecessors (Majmu' al-Fatawa 28/511).

The Hanafis write: the apostate's repentance consists in coming with the formula of the testimony of faith and dissociating from every religion other than Islam, or from what he had turned to, the aim being thereby achieved; if he returns and apostatizes again his ruling is the same, and so on forever, for we judge only the outward, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) accepted from the hypocrites the outward Islam; his repentance having been accepted the first time through the manifestation of Islam, it is accepted afterward. As-Sarakhsi says: his repentance: that he come with the formula of the testimony of faith and dissociate from all religions other than Islam or from what he had turned to; the complete Islam of the Jew is dissociating from Judaism, of the Christian from Christianity, of the apostate from every religion other than Islam, the apostate having no profitable religion; if he dissociates from what he had turned to, the aim is achieved; if he apostatizes a second and third time, the same is done each time; when he enters Islam his path is set free, according to the word of Allah "if they repent, establish prayer and give zakat, set them free" (Surah at-Tawba 5) (al-Mabsut 10/99, al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya 2/253). He adds elsewhere: the apostate's repentance is the confession of the formula of the testimony of faith and the dissociation from what he had turned to (al-Mabsut 10/112).

The Shafi'is write: the Islam of the original unbeliever and of the apostate is the same, with a specification: if he has no interpretation in his disbelief, like the idol-worshipper, the testimony of faith suffices him for Islam, according to the Prophet's word (peace be upon him) "when they say it, they safeguard from me their bloods and their properties except by its right". If he is among those who interpret, like the one who says "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, but the messenger of the unlettered and not of the People of the Book", or "he is a prophet, but not yet sent", his Islam is not pronounced until he comes with the testimony of faith and dissociates with it from every religion contrary to Islam: were he to stop at the testimony, one might think he means what he believes. Whoever apostatizes by denying an obligation agreed upon like prayer and zakat, or by permitting a forbidden thing agreed upon like wine, pork and fornication, his Islam is not pronounced until he comes with the testimony of faith and confesses the obligation of what he denied and the prohibition of what he permitted, for he belied Allah and His messenger: his Islam is therefore not pronounced until he confesses his belief in them on that. Al-Shafi'i says: if the original unbeliever prays in the land of war his Islam is pronounced; if he prays in the land of Islam it is not, for the man in the land of Islam is required to establish prayer and presumed to do it: if he does it there, the outward is that he did it by dissimulation and not by conviction; in the land of unbelief he is not required: if he does it there, the outward is that he did it by conviction, and his Islam is pronounced. Likewise the apostate in the land of war about whom two witnesses testify that he prays there: his Islam is pronounced; the apostate in the land of Islam about whom two witnesses testify that he prays: his Islam is not pronounced, for the apostate in the land of war cannot manifest his Islam except by prayer, being unable to pronounce the testimony, while the apostate in the land of Islam can manifest it by the testimony. Whoever apostatizes then enters Islam, then apostatizes and enters Islam repeatedly: his Islam is pronounced valid, yet he is not disciplined for the first apostasy, a doubt possibly having intervened; he is disciplined for what follows it, no doubt being possible (al-Muhadhdhab 2/223, al-Bayan 12/50-51).

Ibn Qudama says: when his apostasy is established by testimony or otherwise, if he testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, the truth of what he denied is not reopened and his path is set free, without charging him to confess what was attributed to him; the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "I was commanded to fight the people until they say: there is no god but Allah; when they say it they safeguard from me their bloods and their properties except by its right, and their reckoning is with Allah"; agreed upon; by this the Islam of the original unbeliever is established, likewise the Islam of the apostate, and no need, his Islam being established, to reopen the truth of his apostasy. Al-Kharqi's statement applies to whoever disbelieved by denying oneness, or Muhammad's mission (peace be upon him), or both; whoever disbelieved otherwise acquires Islam only by confessing what he denied. Whoever confesses Muhammad's mission (peace be upon him) but denies that he was sent to all the worlds does not establish his Islam until he testifies that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah to all creation, or dissociates, with the testimony, from every religion contradicting Islam; if he claims he is a messenger sent otherwise, he must confess that this sent one is the messenger of Allah, for stopping at the testimony leaves open that he means what he believes.

Whoever apostatizes by denying an obligation does not enter Islam until he confesses what he denied and repeats the testimony of faith, for he belied Allah and His messenger; likewise if he denies a prophet, a verse of Allah's Book, a book among His books, an angel among those whose angelhood is established, or permits a forbidden thing: his Islam requires confessing what he denied. As for the unbeliever who denied the religion from the origin: if he testifies that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah and stops there, two reports exist, detailed in the previous section. If he says "I testify that the Prophet is the messenger of Allah" his Islam is not pronounced, for he may mean a prophet other than ours; if he says "I am a believer" or "I am a Muslim", the qadi pronounces his Islam by that even without the testimony of faith, for they are two names of a thing known and famous, namely the testimony of faith: whoever informs about himself what they contain has informed of them. Muqdad is reported to have said: O messenger of Allah, what do you think if I meet a man of the unbelievers and we fight, he strikes one of my hands with the sword and cuts it, then takes shelter in a tree saying "I have become a Muslim": shall I kill him after he said it? He said: do not kill him; if you killed him he would be in your position before you killed him, and you in his position before he said the word he said. And from Imran ibn Husayn: the Muslims seized a man of the Banu 'Aqil and brought him to the Prophet (peace be upon him), who said: O Muhammad, I am a Muslim; the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: had you said it while in control of your affair you would have attained all success; both are narrated by Muslim; this may concern the original unbeliever or the denier of oneness; whoever disbelieved by denying a prophet, a book or an obligation does not thereby become a Muslim, for he may believe that Islam is what he is upon: all the people of innovations believe themselves the Muslims, and among them is an unbeliever (al-Mughni 9/28-29).

Al-Mirdawi says: the apostate's repentance is his Islam: that he testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger; unless his apostasy came from denying an obligation, permitting a forbidden thing, denying a prophet or a book, or from his turning to the religion of those who hold Muhammad sent to the Arabs alone: his Islam is then not valid until he confesses what he denied and testifies that Muhammad was sent to the worlds, or says "I am innocent of every religion contradicting the religion of Islam", that is, he brings that in addition to the testimony of faith, when his apostasy is of this nature (al-Insaf 10/336). Ibn Muflih adds: if he does not confess what he denied, the matter remains upon the apostasy that made him an unbeliever; if his apostasy came from believing Muhammad was sent to the Arabs, he must testify that he was sent to the worlds and pronounce with that the formula of the testimony of faith; the mere confession of what he denied does not suffice; or he says "I am innocent of every religion contradicting Islam", for one might think he means by the testimony what he believes, and the return to Islam occurs only through that (al-Mubdi' 9/182). Al-Marwazi says: the man who disbelieved by leaving prayer is summoned to repent of his disbelief by the call to prayer: if he returns to prayer and prays he returns to Islam, his disbelief having been by his leaving it, and his Islam by establishing it; likewise everyone known for Islam and faith in what came from Allah of obligations, the lawful and the unlawful, who then disbelieved by a law or by permitting part of what Allah forbade: he is summoned only from the law by which he disbelieved; when he confesses it he returns (al-Mughni 9/20 for the school's ancillary discussions).

What makes the unbeliever become a Muslim

The generality of jurists write that the unbeliever becomes a Muslim by coming with the testimony of faith; many jurists add "I have submitted" or "I have believed", according to what the two shaykhs narrate from Ubaydillah ibn Adi ibn al-Khiyar about al-Miqdad ibn Amr al-Kindi, ally of the Banu Zuhra and among those present at Badr with the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): he told him that he had said to the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): what do you think if I meet one of the unbelievers and we fight, and he strikes one of my hands with the sword and cuts it off, then takes shelter in a tree saying "I have submitted to Allah": shall I kill him after he said it? The messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: do not kill him; he said: O messenger of Allah, he cut off one of my hands and then said it after cutting it; the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: do not kill him; if you killed him he would be in your position before you killed him, and you in his position before he said the word he said (narrated by al-Bukhari (3794) and Muslim (95)).

The Hanafis write: the rule is that the unbeliever who confesses other than what he believes has his Islam pronounced: whoever denies oneness, like the dualist, the idol-worshipper, the polytheist and the Manichaean, when he says "there is no god but Allah", or "I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah", or "I have submitted", or "I have believed in Allah", or "I am upon the religion of Islam", or "upon the hanifiyya religion": all of that is Islam; whoever believes in oneness and denies Muhammad's mission, like the Jews and Christians, does not become a Muslim by the testimony of oneness until he testifies that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; likewise those who claim Muhammad was sent to the Arabs alone and not to the Children of Israel: he does not become a Muslim by the testimony of faith until he dissociates from his religion. If he says "I have entered Islam" his Islam is pronounced, for it evidences a new entry into Islam, different from his prior state, hence his exit from what he was. If he says "I am a Muslim" his Islam is pronounced. The unbeliever who prays in congregation, calls to prayer in a mosque, or says "I believe in the truth of congregational prayer", becomes a Muslim, for he came with what is specific to Islam, just as coming with what is specific to disbelief proves disbelief: whoever prostrates to an idol, wears the zunnar or the Magians' cap has his disbelief pronounced. Whoever answers the call, enters ihram and attends the rites with the Muslims becomes a Muslim. The protected person compelled into Islam who enters it has his Islam validated; if he reverts he is not killed but imprisoned until he returns to Islam (al-Ikhtiyar 4/184-185).

The Shafi'is write: the Islam of the original unbeliever and the apostate is the same; if he has no interpretation in his disbelief, like the idol-worshipper, the testimony of faith suffices him for Islam; if he is among those who interpret, like the one who says "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, but the messenger of the unlettered and not of the People of the Book", or "he is a prophet, but not yet sent", his Islam is not pronounced until he comes with the testimony of faith and dissociates with it from every religion contrary to Islam. Whoever says "I am of you", "I am like you", "I am a Muslim", "I am Muhammad's ally", "I love him", "I have submitted", "I have believed" makes no confession of Islam, for he may mean "I am of you in humanity" or similar interpretations. If he says "I have believed", "I have submitted", "I am a believer", "a Muslim like you", "I am of Muhammad's community (peace be upon him)", "your religion is true", "I am innocent of whoever contradicts Islam", or confesses whoever disbelieved by denying an obligation by declaring it obligatory, two paths exist: the first, the majority's and the weightier: it is not a confession of Islam; the second, attributed to the verifying scholars: it is. Whoever says "I am innocent of every community contradicting Islam" does not suffice on either path, for it does not deny the deism that contradicts Islam and is not a community; whoever says "there is no Merciful, no Maker, if not Allah or him whom the Muslims believed in" does not suffice. Whoever says "I have believed in Him who has no other god" is not a believer in Allah, for he may mean the idol; likewise "there is no god but the King or the Provider", for he may mean the sovereign who commands the troops and orders their provisions; if he says "I have believed in Allah" with no prior religion he becomes a believer in Allah and comes with the second testimony; if he was a polytheist he does not become a believer until he adds "and I disbelieve in what I used to associate". Whoever affirms the pre-eternity of other than Allah suffices for his faith in Allah by saying "there is nothing pre-eternal but Allah", like the one who does not say it, and the one who does not say it suffices also by "Allah is my Lord". Al-Shafi'i says: if the original unbeliever prays in the land of war his Islam is pronounced; if he prays in the land of Islam it is not, for the outward is that he prayed by dissimulation and not conviction, whereas in the land of unbelief the outward is that he prayed by conviction, and his Islam is pronounced (al-Bayan 12/50-51, asna al-Matalib 4/124, Mughni al-Muhtaj 5/431-432).

Ibn Qudama says: as for the unbeliever who denied the religion from his origin: if he testifies that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah and stops there, two reports exist, detailed in the previous section. If he says "I testify that the Prophet is the messenger of Allah" his Islam is not pronounced, for he may mean a prophet other than ours; if he says "I am a believer" or "I am a Muslim" the qadi pronounces his Islam by that even without the testimony of faith; this may concern the original unbeliever or the denier of oneness.

A section: when the unbeliever has come with the testimony of faith then says "I did not intend Islam", he becomes an apostate and is compelled back into Islam: Ahmad stated this in the report of a group; it is also transmitted from Ahmad that he is accepted without compulsion, for sincerity is possible and his blood is not shed on a doubt; the first view is sounder: his Islam having been pronounced, he is killed if he reverts, as if the delay had elapsed.

A section: when the unbeliever prays, his Islam is pronounced, whether in the land of war or the land of Islam, in congregation or alone; al-Shafi'i said: if he prays in the land of war his Islam is pronounced; in the land of Islam it is not, for he may have prayed for show and by dissimulation. Our proof: what is Islam in the land of war is Islam in the land of Islam, like the testimony of faith; prayer is a pillar specific to Islam, by it his Islam is pronounced as by the testimony; the suspicion of dissimulation and show falls with the testimony of faith; the same holds for the original unbeliever and the apostate. As for the other pillars, zakat, fasting and pilgrimage, his Islam is not pronounced by them: the polytheists performed pilgrimage in the era of the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) until the Prophet (peace be upon him) barred them saying: "no polytheist shall perform pilgrimage after this year"; zakat is charity and they gave charity; zakat was imposed on the Christians of the Banu Taghlib at double what is taken from the Muslims, and they did not become Muslims thereby; as for fasting, every religious community has its fast, and fasting is not an act: it is only refraining from specific acts at a specific time, which can occur from the unbeliever as from the Muslim; the intention of fasting is not considered, being inward and unknown to us; unlike prayer, which consists of acts distinct from the unbelievers' acts, specific to the people of Islam: Islam is not established until he comes with a prayer distinguishing him from the unbelievers' prayer by facing our qibla, bowing and prostrating, not by mere standing, for they stand in their prayer. No difference here between the original unbeliever and the apostate, for what obtains Islam for the first obtains it for the apostate, like the testimony of faith: on this basis, if the apostate dies and his heirs establish by testimony that he prayed after his apostasy, inheritance is pronounced for them, unless it is established that he apostatized after his prayer, or his apostasy was by denying an obligation, a book, a prophet, an angel, or innovations of the like whose adherents claim Islam: his Islam is then not pronounced by his prayer, for he believes in prayer's obligation and performs it despite his disbelief, resembling his likes; Allah knows best (al-Mughni 9/28-30, Sharh az-Zarkashi 3/97).